TL;DR – Koreanized Foreign Food

So, this was a rather impromptu TL;DR we did. On Monday, we went to Hannam-dong to visit the Meemers, who had to stay at the vet for 72 hours while they flushed out his system from the poison that nearly killed his bladder. He’s safe now! Success! He has a new diet now that could prevent it from happening in the future. I’m just happy the little guy isn’t in pain anymore :D

Point is, while we were there, we went to a foreign restaurant for some foreign food. I’m not gonna say which one because I don’t want to badmouth it, just in case it was just having a bad day, but I was really unimpressed. Sure, it tasted a bit like the food it was supposed to represent, but it was missing so many spices, and swapped out ingredients for the closest readily-available substitute, that I was disappointed as a whole. These kinds of experiences are common here in Korea, and – though you’ll surely find a good restaurant from time to time that serves really authentic stuff – more often than not you’re gonna get a knockoff that just doesn’t satisfy, if you’re particular like how we are.

We talked about a few of our experiences in the video, but we didn’t talk about desserts here that are really…different. Baked goods are very different a lot of the time. Breads are very sweet. Garlic bread has a sweet glaze. Cheesecake here is oftentimes not a dense cream cheese, but a fluffy kind of cake, with cheese flavor. So, yes, it’s cheese cake, but not cheesecake, you know?

One thing you might have to get used to if you get fruits with your deserts, like on cakes or ice cream or whatnot, is that cherry tomatoes in Korea fall under the fruit category. We’ve had cakes with tomatoes on them, patbingsu with tomatoes on it. Which, I understand, tomatoes are technically fruits, but they’re not supposed to be eaten like fruits…are they?

Story time! here’s a mind warp: when Martina was teaching, she asked her students about tomatoes in Ice Cream. She said she doesn’t understand, because even though tomatoes are fruits, they should be eaten like vegetables, rather than fruitily, right? Her students disagreed. Tomatoes should be eaten like fruits, EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE VEGETABLES. So, Martina – being the caring, educating teacher that she was – pulled it up on Google. Tomatoes are fruits. See there. Google says so. And Google never lies! The students took over the computer and opened up Naver. What’s Naver say about tomatoes? THAT THEY’RE VEGETABLES! *mind blown* So, which one is it? What am I doing here in Bizarroland? Or is this Normal-land, and I’m the one who was born and raised in Bizarroland?! Someone telllll meeeee!

Another thing we hinted at but didn’t get the chance to talk about is Costco hotdogs. Where I’m from, I’m used to putting mustard, relish, and ketchup on my hotdog. In Korea, though, they put a gigantic amount of mustard, relish, ketchup, and diced onions ON A PLATE. Make a giant plate of all this stuff, mix it up, and eat it like salad. There’s not a small amount put on the hot dog: it’s a giant amount put on a plate and eaten with a fork. I don’t understand why. Soo Zee doesn’t understand why. It’s not a Korean side dish seen anywhere else. It’s just a Costco phenomenon. I want to make a video of it to show you what it’s like, but I’m not sure how, without being offensive to others, but…I’m just confused by the whole thing.

I’m gonna open this up to the comments now, because I realize there’s a potential issue I might be suffering. What if Korean people come to Canada, eat Mexican food and say “hell, this ain’t what Mexican food is like!” It could be the reverse, right? I’m not sure what authentic Mexican is like, really. Though, when we were in Mexico the food we had there was closer to what we had in Toronto than what we had in Korea. And the Indian food in Toronto closer to what we had in Singapore than what we had in Korea. I’ve never had pasta or pizza from Italy, though. Maybe sweet potato mousse is Italian? I don’t know. So, tell me: if you’ve travelled, have you noticed how different foods taste than how they’re “supposed” to taste? Let us know!

Otherwise, if you liked this TL;DR, make sure you click on this fancy pants button below, right here. It tastes the same in all countries, by the way, but in case you’re not sure, lick your screen and let us know :D

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There used to be an awesome Indian restaurant in Ilsan, but haven’t been there in 5 years so could be gone. As for strange foods in other countries. We ordered pizza when I was living in Ukraine and it came with an entire egg cooked in the middle surrounded by bacon making it look like the sun. In Korea I often was surprised by something copied from a picture just a little off, like sour cream on my potato or banana and cherries in my spaghetti.

Ok, I know this post is old and nobody’s going to read it, but I’d just like to say that curry is an interesting food in Japanese and Korean cuisine. The Japanese actually were attempting to recreate the British version of curry when the British were occupying their country. When Japan decided to take over Korea, the Koreans adopted their version of curry as well. The British learned the recipe from their occupation of India and pretty much bastardized the hell out of it, but boy, am I glad they did! Finally, I’d also like to note that I was raised on the brand “Golden Curry” when I was growing up in Japan. That is my go-to when it comes to homemade Japanese curry. I’m reading that it is commonly available in South Korea, too. I loooove Golden Curry. If my curry tasted like apples, I would be very sad.

Eating foods from their country of origins and just from home is definitely an interesting experience. I’m from New York City, a city full of different cultures. In New York City, so far, I have tasted Korean, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish. When I went to Japan, some of the food tasted about the same as it did in nyc with the exception of japanese curry which tastes like heaven in Japan. Also the tempura was way better in Japan. When I went to Spain, the food was definitely an higher quality. For example, the churros are sold on street carts in Spain, very crispy and can come with many toppings including dipped in chocolate. They were much better than soft churros in the US. When I went to China, there were definitely differences between food in China and Chinese food in the United States but it depends where you go to eat Chinese food in the US. Authentic Chinese restaurants in Chinatown almost live up to their counterparts in China but the vegetables are way better in China. When I went to France, the food was the same as french food sold in street fairs in NYC or in restaurants but the flavors were much richer.However, crepes and escargots taste fabulous whether I ate them in France or in the US. Although I have never been to Italy, I did eat Italian food in Hong Kong, Japan, and New York City. Italian food in New York City is legit because many of the descendants of people living in New York City are from Italy. However, the pasta in Japan and Hong Kong is much lighter than its North American counterpart. I have eaten both Korean BBQ and what would be considered more authentic Korean cuisine with side dishes as well. Korean food is absolutely fantastic but I am not really a fan of corn on pizza. However, it does sound interesting.

Hi! I live in Arizona, USA and this comment is more about the tomato issue. Technically a tomato is a fruit because it has seeds in it. BUT here in the USA it is a vegetable because in in 1893 (or around thereI believe) the fruit or veggie issue was actually taken to the Supreme Court ( I kid you not) and the Court ruled that the tomato was a vegetable. So depending on whether or not the USA was the only country to take this issue that high up (seriously this actually happened. Women didn’t have the right to vote but this was an issue) I believe in most other countries it is, in fact, a fruit.

My history teacher talked about this once and according to him, the case was filed under Tariff Act which requires a tax paid for imported for vegetables but not fruits. Botanically, it is a fruit but the case was about the trade and commerce definitions not the scientific definition. They decided on vegetable under the definition of the Tarrif Act for tax income because if it was classified as a fruit, then they get no tax money under the Act. All of this is according to what I remember from my history teacher rant one day when he heard some students discussing this issue.

Yes! I had that same ‘but tomatoes are fruits!’ conversation in Japan with my Japanese friend saying they were Vegetables and asking Mr google in English and Japanese. What I realised was that the Japanese word for vegetable, Yasai, is translated as vegetable but actually it has a different definition of what a vegetable is altogether. When I realised that my mind was blown cause of how difficult it is to really translate something….lol

Great post! I actually have a question: As a fan of Korean variety I am very happy to have KBS World post a lot of their shows on You Tube with english subs. Is this something that is growing on Korean TV in general as well? More English subtitles on shows/dramas available for everyone, I mean. More English-friendly content maybe? Are you able to watch Korean TV with english subtitles?

English Pizza does have pizza on certain favours – Vegetarian and Tuna and sweet corn – also if you ask for one flavour e.g. pepperoni you can have vegetarian with it which come s with corn. Barring that corn isn’t really on pizza over here.
Really surprised on Korean’s style foreign of food! In England you cant really get a wide range of Asian food if you don’t live a large city, its predominantly Chinese food – there has been a few sushi and Thai restaurants pop up but its not really wide variety.
WHICH SUCKS!!

This was really interesting about the food in Korea! I must say though Simon I’ve lived in England for the past five years and I’ve NEVER come across corn in my pizza. I even asked some friends today to see if it was true but they all denied it. So I don’t know why Koreans put corn in their pizza…

I live in Australia and I’m actually quite happy with the international foods that we have here. Where I live there are many immigrants, and many of them open up businesses and restaurants that sell amazing food. I can’t say this from experience, but I’m pretty sure that they do use authentic recipes, but at times I wonder whether the beauty of multicultural food is being marketed and cheapened by pre-made sauces and the like. Mind you, they do make life easier sometimes!

I’m British and I’ve never had a pizza with corn on it. The pizza I usually eat over here is just pepperoni or just cheese. Maybe there are pizza’s out there with corn on them in the UK but I’ve never had one :S

Speaking of foreign food, where I live there are a LOT of Chinese restaurants in the town. Walking alone the road there are four different restaurants within walking distance of each other and a buffet place which is mainly for Chinese food. I’ve had food from those different restaurants and the rice always tastes different. I thought rice was meant to taste the same no matter where you bought it or ate it but from these different restaurants, the rice always tastes different, I don’t know if it’s to do with the ingredients they use or witchcraft but it stumps me every time!

I don’t know about swedish cuisine in other countries (probably nonexistent) but I have heard that swedish pizzas are very strange (actually, they are). I once heard an american exchange student refer to them as pies, which I can understand since they are kind of thick, but they are also very meaty. At the pizzeria closest to me they have “quattro carne” which has beef, pork, chicken and… I think ham? Another thing that’s unusual is that bananas are also used as toppings. There’s also the Taco pizza, with ground meat, salsa-sauce, paprika, cornchips, corn…. The kebab pizza is also very big, the most popular pizza I think, with kebab meat, sometimes onions and sometimes mushroom, cheese and ham with lots of kebab-sauce. There are also kebabpizzas with french fries on them.
Pic of a kebabpizza:

Tomato is a fruit, botanicallyit has seeds which makes it a fruit. Only time when this was challended is when the United States Senate actually declared that tomato is legally a vegetable. This was due to tariff laws imposed on vegetables were different than fruit, therefore the legal case was brought up that tomatoes should be classified as vegetables not fruit. They were able to justify it under the argument that they are “served for dinner, not dessert”. Of course this doesn’t declassify tomatoes from being a fruit scientifically but by food regulation and tariff laws they are considered vegetables. So I don’t know if that has anything to do with why Naver has them show up as vegetables unless it was also changed for legal or political reasons. Anyway here was a little background on the veggie/fruit controversy of tomatoes. :)

Awww man. When I lived in Montréal my biggest issue was craving food I just couldn’t get. Real French bread, English bacon rather than streaky. I’d always be craving food I couldn’t. That said, best Dim Sum I’ve ever had was Sunday brunch at the downtown Days Inn in Chinatown (random).

Other than the random food, has the online ordering improved over the years? Two reasons, over in the UK I’m reveling as I now have Indian takeaway ordered online and delivered to my house (despite living in the middle of no-where). Plus I’ve seen general internet shopping shift rapidly in Japan over the last few years.

The UK has been ordering bobbins from everywhere to your door since the last century. Lately we’ve gained collection lockers. In Japan however this seems to have taken longer to kick in, but is far cooler too. For a good few years you’ve been able to order stuff and get it delivered to a convenience store then pay for it when you collect. Even apartment blocks can have special courier lockers for over sized deliveries you open with a once-time code.

What’s changed though is the brick’n mortar stores are suffering. Japanese internet shopping has grown quickly and its almost like the stores have given up. Three years ago I could go into a store and get it to price match the internet, now they’re basically saying order it online if you think you can get it cheaper. I’m pretty sure you can even get same day online orders too in Tokyo now.

So why would you go into a store in Japan? As far as I can work out, its all down to loyalty promotional cards. Literally every store has some sort of complication point collection discount scheme. But they’re all non-transferable and unless you really are loyal its easier just to go online. What’s your take for Korea? TL;DR?

I came to Korea last year, stayed for a
month and visited Seoul, Daejeon and Busan. After experiencing
amazing Korean cuisine I am craving badly for it from time to time,
especially Kimchi!

Back home, authentic Korean food is
hard to come by, at least in Scotland. Here, Korean restaurants can’t
keep up with the taste and freshness compared to everything I had
during my trip. In general, there is a big lack of flavour. Some
restaurants make their own Kimchi and I know everyone has its own
style and way of preparing it. However, its just not like the stuff I
loved so much in SK. Anyway, the luck was on my side one day when I
discovered an Asian supermarket which has a tiny little stock of
Kimchi, imported from Korea. I took my chance and bought a 1KG right
away. The smell and the tast after opening the bag brought back
memories. Korea was in my mouth again. The first 500G lasted for
about 5 minutes ;)

You can find many Asian supermarket in
the UK, but the range of Korean products is close to nil. Chinese
products dominate the markets. The Kimchi selling supermarket is kind
of a treasure trove. I really hope the range of Korean products
increase soon. I would love to see stuff like Misugaru, Soju or all
sorts of green tea flavoured thingys in the shelves.

There is a huge lack of unique Korean
street food (e.g. Tteokbokki) in the rest of the world. Do you guys
think Korean street food can make it elsewhere once people get a
chance to enjoy it or is the general flavour just not suited for the
mainstream which prefers BurgerKing, KFC and Co?

I think Mexican food is absolutely the hardest to get right in Korea. I live on Osan AB and there is a “Mexican” restaurant in the Songtan Entertainment District that I ate at once….yeah once. It was awful. I have made it up to Vatos Tacos in Itaewon and it was fantastic Mexican-American food. I have eaten at the Chili’s here on base way more than I care to admit just so I can get a Mexican like meal, and a margarita. :o)

HIGH FIVE to Simon on the Japanese Ramen tip!! OMG!!! LOVE JAPANESE RAMEN 4LYYYFE! I was so shocked that “Japanese Ramen Shops” here in Korea (live in Busan) come nowhere close to the savory, taste-bud tingling, heart/soul-warming deliciousness of real Japanese ramen. I have only found ONE place that comes close (and shop owner dude went to Japan to STUDY ramen). But that divine broth…. Hard to find even in the States.

Actually, when I was living in Japan, I was surprised at how poorly they do Chinese food. It was really difficult to find legit Chinese food anywhere (Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, wherever, I tried for two years). And Dim-Sum is essentially non-existent both here in Korea and in Japan.

I want to defend pizza in Korea slightly. If you go to Domino’s, their stuff is pretty legit. Are you gonna get deep dish, Chicago-style pizza there? No. But I was pleasantly surprised at how close Domino’s is to pizza back in the States. So Kudos to you on that, Korea. Japan’s pizza didn’t come close (but whatever they have ramen so ramen beats all).

I live in a boarder town in California, we are right next to the ocean
and Mexico, about 25 minutes from downtown to the broader. Our Mexican
food is different then what you find just across the boarder. My
favorite taco place is thankfully by my house and is really sad looking(
this is oddly good when in the hunt for great Mexican food); I get
free chips, salsa, and spicy carrots to snack on while I wait. Again the
food here is really good and a some is the same to what you find in
Mexico, but even being so close to and only staffed by Mexicans, it is
still not completely what you would find in Mexico. I think combining
the local and type( Mexican, Italian, Thai, etc) of foods is always
prevalent, authentic is hard to get. In San Diego we have things Mexican food related that you will only find here, not even in LA or across the boarder; even friends in San Fransisco complain about the lack of any and good Mexican food. Don’t be fooled and think you will be able to easily find a California burrito outside of San Diego or carne asada fries. Mexico is a huge place and has is own unique pockets of food
style and flavors even though it does have common themes. This can be
said about almost anywhere, even the USA( California will have very
different food than Maine). Food changes and that can lead to wonderful things, but often you have to sit threw some really bad food first.

Side note: My family has
9 avocado trees and over 10 citrus trees in different varieties, plus
some other stuff. I feel bad for you guys as I don’t like avocados and
have to give them away to friends b/c we have to many.

I’m sure you guys do realize though, that even what you think of as Mexican and Italian food is just North American versions of those cuisines… to fit the North American palette. So, of course you’re not going to get those versions in Korea…?

I’m really glad you talked about this. I’m studying abroad in Taiwan right now and I completely understand that urge of wanting to eat something different.
In Taiwan, it’s hard to find American tasting food or it’s possible to find it but with a high price. I’ve heard there are a few Mexican restaurants, but aren’t as authentic tasting as they say they are. There are some renowned burger places where Taiwanese say they taste like American burgers but that’s not true haha.
I will say this though, I love the pizza here in Taiwan (especially the one with cheese in the crust hmm~mmm~~). Yea it’s different from America and has different flavors, but it’s actually good and the different flavors are fun to try. Here though we don’t have as big as a problem for the corn. It’s on some things, but not everything.
Korean and Japanese food is also Taiwanized lol. The sushi is really not sushi and many have warned me to not eat it because I’ll get food poisoning. Authentic Korean food is expensive, and the other places are just mediocre or have a Taiwanese flavor to it.
I really hope that EYK will consider coming to Taiwan. I know you guys would love it here! I have a whole list of foods I know you guys would love and become addicted to ;) Especially the bubble tea!

frozen sashimi is definitely not a Japan thing… i think sushi chefs here would probably get offended if you even suggested that they use that… plus remember the food-gasm you had at that really expensive sushi place that one time?? even at cheap sushi places, i’ve never experienced the frozen fish…

Japan is surprisingly not that bad for getting foreign food. especially in Tokyo. if you have a hankering for something, you can definitely find it. for example, there’s this amazing indian restaurant in my neighbourhood. there is of course a lot of weird japanesized food, such as pizza with mayo and corn………. -_- but you can also find lots of restaurants that serve “italian style” pizza. the only thing that japan still gets terribly wrong is cake. and pie (there is no pie). the only cakes they can do is cheesecake and shortcake. other cakes, they just don’t taste sweet enough. also, it used to be that it was impossible to find “breakfast food” in restaurants, but it’s not the case anymore. there’s a “pancake revolution” going on in japan now and pancakes/breakfast restaurants have popped up everywhere… you can get waffles and even eggs benedict!!!

oh! oh! and pasta! lol. in Japan, most people think pasta=spaghetti. seriously. you go to pasta restaurants and it’s only spaghetti with different sauces. i often ask japanese people i meet, asking if they know what the difference between pasta and spaghetti is, and they usually look at me with this quizzical face like “what are you talking about. it’s the same thing”. and then i have to launch into this whole explanation about different kinds of pasta. i even did a restaurant lesson on it years ago, where i had food from different countries’ restaurants and one of them was italian and so i had lasagna in there. almost none of my kids (in like 150 kids or so) knew what it was, and i polled all my classes to ask who had ever eaten it and it was about one kid in 60. i was floored. but pasta is not such a big deal because you can easily cook it yourself. you can find lots of different types at most import stores.

on a final note, from watching this video, i think you guys need to move to Japan… Martina could eat curry everyday, and Simon would eat ramen… come!! lol.

Korean salads are very weird to me. I dont understand them – its almost like how many random things can i put in a bowl and cover with a creamy sauce. I had one with banana once – it was horrific. I even remember talking to my Korean friend saying that i should eat more healthily, a lot more salad – and she was like “NOOOOOO Salad is bad for you! Its so fattening!” – i dont think she even had a concept of having a salad without the mayonnaise/non de-script creamy dressing. =_=

I can’t understand the Korean style garlic bread with sugar on it – it is perhaps the most foul thing i have ever put in my mouth. Oh, and dont even try to eat regular korean loaf bread with butter and vegemite. HOLY COW!!! It is so gross – the sweetness of the bread, the random oily yet plastic flavourless Korean butter and the strong salty vegemite is a combination made in HELL. I craved Australian bread perhaps the most out of all food in korea.

But in saying that, I actually love Korean style pizza and Chinese food. The chinese food in australia is always too sweet – i like the spiciness of the Korean version. :)

So there was the time I went to TGIFriday’s in Korea and ordered a burrito, which came with a dollop of vanilla yogurt.

And there was a time I went to an Indian restaurant in Korea, ordered naan and got a tortilla.

And there was a time I went to a restaurant in Korea and ordered nachos and got corn chips with lettuce and pizza sauce.

And there was this time I ordered pizza in Korea and it was served with honey. (Which, apparently, is a thing in Busan.)

And the corn flakes in the ice cream sundae was a bit odd, too.

So… yeah.

As for pizza – I have been to Italy. I went to Napoli, where pizza was invented. It was NOTHING like Korean pizza. But, to be fair, it wasn’t much like North American pizza either. Napoli pizza is much simpler – three ingredients – tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. Most pizza in Italy doesn’t have a multitude of toppings and the crust tends to be thinner than in most chains in North America, but thicker than in New York. It is, however, wetter. Italian Margherita pizza doesn’t use sauce – it uses tomatoes, so it is a big, wet, delicious mess of amazing. Granted, my time in Italy was limited, so there may, in fact, be a market for sweet potato mousse that I didn’t experience, but I have my suspicions about that.

It’s interesting that many countries change ethnic foods. I do have a question (unrelated) Do you know of any shops or online sites for those of us that don’t live in Korea to get korean products? I’m always looking for cute stuff from either Korea or Japan. I find more from japan but I’m so fascinated it Korea I’d love to get some from there.

I wonder if someone could go to Korea and open a genuine bakery or restaurant with more genuine flavours and strike it big,.. It seems to be a market that needs filling. If anything else it would get all your business when you’re craving non-Koreanized food :P

so I’ve lived in Mexico and different parts of the U.S. and it is such a vast country, that accents, dialects, and food change DRASTICALLY. The food in Mexico is very much like the food in southern Cali (not Taco Bell or any chains) because there are a lot of legit Mexican families that move across the border and open up taco shops. My profile pic is not a real taco, btw. It is an american style taco. So, in southern and somewhat central cali, arizona, texas, and new mexico, the food is all basically the same as mexican (hough for some reason, there is a huge difference b/t Texmex and Calimex…) However, Mexican food does not even get into northern california. My friend came down from Seattle while I was living in San Diego and she had never had a gigantic, gourmet burrito before so I took her to my friend’s local Taco Shop and got herone and that was all that she ate for the rest of the trip. I lived in Indianapolis for a while too and there’s no way you could find a real taco shop, much less a restaurant dedicated to mexican food. In the border states, I’d argue that the culture is very much Mexican. There are a lot of Spanish speakers, Mexicans, Mexican food, but in the East, there is relatively nothing there. I’m surprised to find out it got into Canada, though. From the sound of it, your mexican is a lot like actual Mexican. But just saying, you can’t keep everything In the U.S. restrained to just the U.S. It’s a GIGANTIC country full off tons of different cultures and foods and languages.

Did Naver specify why it was a vegetable? Because, according to my plant biology professor, a tomato is a fruit because of how it is grown by the plant. Vegetables and fruits are different bcuz of what they are on a plant. Root or stem versus the bloated ovary carrying seeds. By this definition, though, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers, squashes, green beans… are also fruits. In the USA, the tomato was classified as a fruit till the mid-eighteen hundreds to avoid taxation. The Supreme Court said (Nix v. Hedden) it’s a vegetable and should be taxed accordingly in 1893 (what do lawyers know about plants?) based off the definition used at tne time which was…something served with dinner, not with dessert. So now it’s a vegetable in the US…New Jersey has even made the tomato its state vegetable. But it is technically a fruit…and the state of Ohio has made it its state fruit.

Tl;dr depends on you. Are you using it culinarily? Vegetable. Are you a plant biologist? Fruit.
Although, as evidenced by South Korea…it depends on the culture you live in.

I’m Chinese and live in Vancouver, Canada, and it seems to me that most of the chinese food here is pretty real and good quality. It’s authentic and really traditional, but then again I go to restaurants that have chinese speaking employees and chinese menus.

It’s weird how when my family and I went to Portland, the chinese food there was just really… fast foodie? It just tasted really greasy and cheap. Still good, but really surprising for a teen who has asian food 3 meals a day!

I went to Portland to have Chinese food once. I don’t remember where I went, but it was so greasy and bland, that my mom and I had to put Siracha sauce on it. Mom said that it’s that bad if we have to get Siracha to wash it down…

oh god pizza in japan…. the most expensive piece of ridiculousness. the sizes are all one down from the american sizes, [so japanese L is an american M] while the prices are [i think] slightly more than the equivalent. HOWEVER i did get a mini-sausage-stuffed crust. which was pretty bomb

I’ve noticed basically the same things with foreign foods here that you have…the only place we’re preeeetty sure we can get American style pizza is like Papa Johns, or Pizza Hut, where you have to pay like $20-30 for a little pizza. ㅠ_ㅠ
We just got a “Dos Mas” burrito joint in town and all the foreigners were like OMG BURRITOOOOS but then we tried them and… they’re so very Korean style..with a ton of rice, lots of chopped cabbage and onions, and no salsa, more like Korean hot sauce of sorts. Luckily, my city has like 3 really good authentic Indian restaurants near by, and there’s not much Korean style mixed in, so that’s nice!

Idk if it counts as “foreign food” but I’ve gotten tricked many times when I went in a bakery, thinking I bought a chocolate-filled pastry of some sort, but turns out its red bean, and then I’m just disappointed. :( Red bean is everywhere!!!!

ummm I might be a Costco phenomenon supporter… that’s the way I eat my hotdogs in Mexico… I would never eat it like that back home in the USA. Well not that I actually eat the hotdog… I eat the mayo onion mustard mess mexacanized with a LOT of jalapeños instead of relish… and I don’t eat the hotdog… hahaha because I get filled with onion and jalapeños and leave the hotdog to my friend… or take it home.

Not food related…but I have a TL;DR question that you have quite a bit of experience with: What is moving like in Korea? Are there Uhaul-type businesses where you can rent trucks? Can you hire movers? How does real estate and house buying work? I moved to a new city last year and have been wondering this since then.

The Mexican food sounds horrible in Korea from what you guys described…I’ll be scared to try any other food besides Korean if I go to Korea XD I would be like “Uh? What is this? I’ve never seen this on _______?!?!”